Running Away the First Time
by lennydotdotdot
Summary: When Ahsoka stumbles upon the remnants of Maul's crime racket, he tries to make her his new apprentice. She has to keep herself together. A take on a line from the Star Wars Rebels Season 2 finale.
1. Nar Shadda

Ahsoka's speeder was constantly in need of repairs, worse than any of Anakin's ships. She endeavored to push Anakin out of her mind but every now and again he'd slip in, she'd complain to herself about her state of finance and her speeder's state of disrepair and she'd say, " _Good going Snips._ "

It bugged her.

The docks on Nar Shadda weren't a safe place to park her wreck but it wasn't like she had anything worth stealing. She'd given up her lightsabers long ago, never gotten them back after they were confiscated by the Order. And even as a Jedi she'd never had too much in terms of possessions. She'd gotten the speeder secondhand with credits Obi Wan lent her but the loan was wearing thin and she hadn't made much of her own. Repaying him, for now, was out of the question.

Getting her speeder fixed was also out of the question, so she locked it and sighed. She needed something to eat.

It was almost painful to have such sensitive hearing in a place like Nar Shadda. And the Force did not dull the soundscape any more than it calmed the city. As Ahsoka walked she heard screams, threats, scams, deals, contracts made and broken. And she could feel lives snuffed out just as quickly. She made herself numb to it all and walked into the first bar she found, ignoring the Pazaak players and posturing mercs in favor of taking a seat at the bar and putting the last of her credits on the table.

She spent them on a bowl of gruel and ate without tasting. Not that it had a taste.

Some of the patrons leered at her and Ahsoka didn't need to open herself to the Force to feel their eyes on her back. She'd covered up with a leather jacket – just as useless in case of crashes – but all the same.

She waved a hand and said, "Mind your own business," and most of them turned back to whatever they'd been doing.

She could have fallen prey to temptation and pushed some of them to forget their credits. Padawan or no, she didn't much like the idea. It would be a last resort. She'd try to find work first.

At first she watched the bulletins fly over the board behind the bar. Small time criminals. Easy bounties. She'd be contending with much rougher mercenaries than the criminals themselves. Maybe a few of the mercs would have bounties on their head. But Ahsoka was one person and she knew without Anakin or Obi Wan to watch her back she needed to be careful.

A hand slipped past her and onto the counter, laying a few credits on the counter. "How much for a night?"

Ahsoka scowled and said, "Watch yourself," to the cowled man. Twi'lek. His orange head tails peeked out from under his cowl and twitched angrily. "You would do well not to patronize me."

She reached out with the Force, her second or maybe third abuse of the night. It was not difficult. It was tiring. She wanted not to rely on it. After all, she was no longer a Jedi.

After a while Ahsoka settled on a mark. Spice dealer, small time, name unimportant. She didn't stress the details except the ones on his face. Human. Blond, thin hair. Jagged teeth and gray skin under the eyes. A slight frame but still larger than hers.

She travelled down to a loading dock well below where she'd parked her speeder and simply approached. She introduced herself – "My name is Ahsoka Tano. I've come to collect your bounty," – she waited for him to yield. When he pulled a blaster on her, she quickly disarmed him and turned the pistol on him. She flipped it to stun but didn't say a word.

He bolted and Ahsoka bolted right after him, and they raced through the streets between piles of trash and empty crates and vagabonds while Ahsoka searched for a way to head him off that didn't involve a flashy reveal. Subtlety.

The man scurried into a warehouse and Ahsoka tailed him closely, in, down a passage he hastily concealed, and into a waiting band of Spice dealers and their muscle.

Ahsoka swore and turned. She should have heard that coming. Should have felt it, should have seen it. Her senses were getting dull.

Before Ahsoka could escape the warehouse a pair of Mandalorians blocked the gates. She could take them. She pulled her pistol and switched it from stun and aimed.

The pistol flew out of her hand. She gaped for half a second before daring a glance upward at a red and black painted visage. A Zabrak, his horns glaring from his skull, skin rough and craggy, glared down from a balcony in the rafters. Ahsoka didn't think on it. She ran at the pair of Mandalorians ready to leap past them.

The Force weighed heavily on her before she could jump and she felt as though it grasped at her. She fought to push it away but it was resilient. She couldn't jump like she wanted to and then it was almost on her neck and—

"Who are you?" the Zabrak called down, his voice wispy. Thin. Almost mild.

Ahsoka pushed back through the Force and knocked back the two Mandalorians. She rushed out from between them and kept running without a second thought.

Until she was far enough away and her stomach growled.

Ahsoka lived in the docks for a while, dodging mercenaries and spice dealers. The tables had quickly turned and a bounty went out for her head, though she'd run into one or two mercs who specified that she was wanted alive, more or less unharmed, and it would be best if she'd please just step into the forcefield. Yeah right.

Her speeder had long been scrapped, not by her, and she wasn't sure how she was going to get out of Nar Shadda without it. She'd have to step up her game, bring down some mercs, maybe even stoop to their level. But she didn't. She had a lot of pride, so much that she'd been warned against it over and over. But she didn't have so much of it that she wouldn't ask for help.

Just not Anakin's help.

Obi Wan at least could keep a secret. She had found a rather discrete warehouse to hole up in and it had become her place of refuge amidst all the mercenaries. She'd learned to make minor repairs to her technologies in the Temple but Anakin had taught her a little more ingenuity than that. It was easy enough to make a basic comlink which she could use to contact her old friend.

The second she had caught a signal she said, "Master Kenobi?"

He answered slowly, tiredly. She couldn't get a visual but his voice was mild and lofty. "Yes? Who is this?"

"This is Ahsoka. I'm sorry to bother you so late."

"It's no trouble at all. Are you alright?"

She wasn't any of his responsibility anymore. She wanted him to care. Wanted to be friends. But he wasn't there when the Order turned its back on her, and though he was there now, it couldn't change things.

"I'm alright, Master Kenobi," she assured him. "I seem to have been stranded on Nar Shadda. My speeder found some technical difficulties and I—"

"Ahsoka I'm so sorry," he said. "I can't help you there right now. We have no jurisdiction in the Outer Rim and—"

"It's fine," Ahsoka cut him off, not wanting to hear another word. "I knew the risks when I came. Do you know anyone who can help me here?"

"If you send me your coordinates I'll see if I can look someone up. In the meantime, stay safe, Ahsoka."

"Always," she said, forcing a smile. She sent her coordinates and closed the link and let herself sleep.

Ahsoka slept in a nest of tattered blankets and clothes piled together to form a makeshift bunk atop a pile of crates. It gave her a good vantage point over the entrance, a little hatch on the floor. There were other entrances once, but they'd been blocked off by solid walls of lead. It deadened the sounds, except from that one side of the warehouse.

There were other stacks of empty crates, some had once contained some sort of grain but now only held dust and rodents. It was a lonely place, but it was safe. No one had followed her back.


	2. Warehouse

It was early in the morning when Ahsoka awoke to shuffling just outside the entrance. It was inevitable. Someone would find her eventually. But she was hoping to have heard back from Obi Wan by now. It wouldn't be the first time he'd promised help and immediately gotten tangled up in someone else's mess. She was starting to see the whole war that way. Just an endless political struggle with hundreds of thousands of otherwise unaffiliated parties wrapped up in between.

But that didn't stop the people at the door from mumbling to each other about expecting a fight. Ahsoka was quiet and quick in removing herself to a dark corner of the room where she would not be easily spotted. She crouched low and waited. The voices continued that they needed to set their blasters somewhere between stun and kill, because otherwise it wouldn't incapacitate her. Then a quieter voice rasped, "You fools know nothing. Stand down. I will do this without your aid."

The Zabrak from before. Ahsoka waited and watched as a familiar black plasma sword carved through her barricade. Deathwatch.

But Deathwatch had already been disbanded, and Pre Vizla killed in combat. So when the hatch popped open and the Zabrak climbed up, she knew he was Vizla's killer.

"You have nowhere to run," he said coolly. "I come accompanied by a small, elite force capable of killing you at any moment. But I come to extend an offer." He scanned the room as he spoke and his eyes eventually honed in on Ahsoka, his gaze not faltering for a moment.

She grabbed a crowbar from against the wall and stalked out slowly. It wouldn't do a thing to stop that saber from slicing into her, but she could hit him hard. Maybe even kill him.

"I don't make deals with criminals," she said in a stern voice.

"I welcome you to resist," he said. His saber still hummed softly. "But I expect you are a little wiser than that if you have escaped me for so long. Come with me, and we will speak in a more," he paused, "hospitable place."

Off planet, she hoped.

She still grasped the crowbar as she approached but the instant she came close enough that she might use it, the Zabrak extended a hand.

"I will take that."

Ahsoka gripped the crowbar in a vice, even as he tugged at it with the force and dragged her off of her footing. She pulled back, but the second she tried to strike he slashed it down the middle and grabbed her wrist. He bent it back hard, and the rest of the crowbar clattered to the ground. Ahsoka thought, for half a second, that's two weapons. But she relented.

"I'll play along," she ground out.

The Zabrak released her and directed her to descend the ladder first.

She walked alongside the Zabrak back to where she'd chased her first and only mark. She'd survived since then, but not off of bounties as she'd expected. It had been off of scraps instead.

The Zabrak she walked with felt distinctively cold, and it was something Ahsoka knew too well. She'd felt it herself back on Mortis. It was the Dark Side of the Force. Not something she intended to know again. But she followed him through the streets, tailed by seven mercenaries in mandalorian armor – though a few wore it without the helmets or the leggings due to tails or snouts.

When they arrived back at the warehouse, the Zabrak led her to a lift and directed the mercenaries to assume whatever pre-assigned posts they'd worked out. He and Ahsoka rode to the top, where he led her to a surprisingly barren room with a matted floor. A sparring room.

"So, Jedi—"

"I'm not a Jedi," Ahsoka said. If he thought he was going to interrogate her on Dooku's account then he was wasting his time.

The Zabrak cocked his head and crossed his arms. "Then what is your name?"

"Ahsoka Tano," she said, sensing the doubt in his voice. "I left the order. I was expelled on false charges and refused reinstatement." His lips quirked upwards at the corners in a wry smile. "Anything I could tell you would be outdated. And if I knew anything useful, I wouldn't tell scum like you." She saw a flash of yellow teeth.

"I am Maul," he said.

For half a second Ahsoka thought of Obi Wan, and her hands tensed and her legs tensed and she felt ready to sprint out. She had heard of him. Obi Wan had returned to the temple on more than one occasion bruised and beaten and he'd reported this Zabrak as the cause of his injuries. Escaped every time.

"Why don't you have a seat?" He unfolded his arms and gestured to the training floor.

"I'd rather not," Ahsoka said, crossing her arms.

His lips curled into a snarl but he shrugged and took a seat himself. After a moment of terse silence Ahsoka relented and took a seat opposite to him, cross legged. He had closed his eyes but the moment she did the same he said, "Tell me more about your expulsion."

"That's none of your concern," she muttered.

"Isn't it? I meet a force wielder, like myself. Not a Jedi, nor a Sith." Ahsoka snorted. "Is that so difficult to believe? That I was betrayed, as you were?"

Such was the way of the Sith, but Ahsoka couldn't answer without a tense feeling in her gut, her Master and teachers all condemning her to death, her friend turning on her and framing her. "It's not the same."

"I trained for my entire life under my master's guidance and was cast aside. I lived my entire life under his teaching and now, nothing."

"I was invited back," Ahsoka snapped.

He smirked. She regretted her tone immediately. "And you declined. Why?"

Because her own Master couldn't protect her. Because Baris, her close friend, had played her as a fool. Because Plo and Yoda and Windu all thought her guilty, because Obi Wan could not even sway the council. Because that sleemo Tarkin had more pull than Jedi who she had trained under for years. Because risking her own life for Jedi younglings and Clone troopers didn't change things. She'd been absolved, but there had been no apologies.

"You felt betrayed," he answered when she did not.

"I am not like you," she said.

"We'll see."


	3. Training Room I

Maul rarely left the warehouse. His mercenaries made most supply runs and his contacts all arrived at the warehouse with money from his spice operation. There were dozens of the little rats scurrying around, even a small band of younglings who probably barely survived on credits traded for rumors, secrets, things overheard in the streets and from waste disposal units. Some of them were in the business of pick-pocketing, trading money for shelter and food. Some of them owed money for rented blasters or supplies – children. And that was far less exorbitant than what some of the workers and merchants owed. It was an expansive extortion racket that Maul dealt in, and Ahsoka could not conceal her disgust.

Not that it mattered to Maul.

He was more concerned with slipping bits of Sith teachings into their conversations, casually mentioning when she looked angry or disturbed that her emotions must have been blinding, that if she tapped into them she might be able to escape.

Ahsoka always retorted, "You said you were not a Sith."

It was exhausting. More so was the fact that he would frequently demand a sparring match. Ahsoka had refused at first, but she was getting restless and needed the exercise. After a few days she finally agreed and Maul and she stretched, then took their places on the mat.

"No weapons, no Force," he said.

Ahsoka nodded and they began. They circled slowly, Maul pacing like a beast and Ahsoka slipping carefully, quietly across the floor. Then they broke towards each other, Maul striking at her with fists and elbows and knees. Ahsoka dodged each blow and struck at his solar plexus – he blocked her with his elbow, spun and slammed his opposite shoulder against her. She fell to the floor.

Maul wasn't a big, hulking figure – he was no bigger than Anakin. But he hit hard.

"Come on," he said quietly.

Ahsoka knew better than to get frustrated. She took a deep breath and resumed her stance. Maul took the offensive, throwing a kick Ahsoka ducked under before she tried to sweep his leg at the knee —and clenched her jaw as she made contact. His knee rung like a bell and she withdrew her aching leg, planted it on the ground and felt dizzy and off balance from the noise and the pain.

He moved to strike her again but when she did not begin to dodge, he simply stopped and planted his foot on the ground. He observed her for a moment before saying, "That must be painful."

"What kind of bracers are those?" Ahsoka grunted.

He snorted and untied the bottoms of his trousers and rolled up the hem until she could see that his leg was entirely metal, a bionic prosthetic to replace a lost limb. "You may tend to your injury. We are done here."

He redid the wraps on his leggings while Ahsoka sank to the floor and inspected her injury – a bad bruise but nothing too serious. Maybe a bruised bone. When she looked up, Maul was already leaving. "Wait. Why do you have those?"

"In due time, Lady Tano," Maul said.

It was not the last time they sparred. The training room had already been their meeting place, and they had sat and meditated near each other in the past (Ahsoka refused to say they meditated together because she did not want to think about what Sith meditated on, and she especially did not want to compare whatever they did while meditating to what Jedi did while meditating). Occasionally Maul would begin an exercise of pushups or sit ups and Ahsoka would eventually join in. He could endure for longer than she could, even when he did more advanced versions of the same exercises. It was irritating, but she refused to get frustrated with him watching. She did everything she could think of to stay calm, and collected. To contain her emotions and keep them under control.

He did everything he could think of to frustrate her.

For instance, dinner. Ahsoka had gone hungry before but when food was plentiful she'd always eaten small meals frequently. Maul didn't do that. Maul went hungry most of the day and would gorge himself in the afternoon.

On Ahsoka's second night, she'd just assumed he was withholding food until they sat down in a relatively private room with a desk and some chairs and a small collection of holotapes. One of the mercenaries walked in with a plate for Maul and a second plate which he placed in front of Ahsoka, then walked out without saying a word.

Maul tore into his food, some whole, unfamiliar bird charred black. Ahsoka had the same before her, but merely watched as Maul ripped his meal apart and crunched on the bones to get at the marrow, slurped at the organs. It was gross.

"You should eat," he said when he had finished and she hadn't touched her food.

Ahsoka never really ate much meat at the temple. She would eat eggs at dinner, and occasionally when she was out in the field she'd eat meat if it was in her ration packs or if she needed to hunt to get a meal. But most of the time she found herself subsisting on beans and nuts and fruit. It was more of a habit than anything, but the thought of consuming three pounds of meat at once made her nauseous.

"May I have a fork?" she asked.

Maul raised a brow. "You don't need one."

She ate some of what she was given but couldn't stand to eat the whole thing. Maul took her leftovers and wolfed it down just as ravenously as he'd eaten his own food while Ahsoka watched uncomfortably from her seat.

It took about a week of this for Ahsoka to say, "Actually, I don't really eat much meat," to which Maul replied by taking her plate and finishing it for her, leaving her without any dinner. On later occasions she was offered some kind of porridge or stew instead, which she accepted. But she still had to watch or at least listen to Maul eat.

Another irritant: Maul frequently walked around the warehouse barely dressed and had no shame in waking Ahsoka and demanding she also get up immediately, dressed and bathed or not. He had no sleep schedule, sleeping maybe a few hours here and there and expecting her to do the same. On some occasions she could do it, but not when she was off duty. Only when she was in the field.

Yet another irritation: Maul's breath. His teeth were yellow and green and black from scurvy and it was disgusting.

It was difficult to stay in such proximity without becoming annoyed eventually. With Anakin it had been the state of his ships or the disorganization of his tools. But the passive irritations grated on her nerves and made it more difficult to cope with more deliberate attacks.

For instance, Maul's attempts to train her.

When they sparred he would fight aggressively and force her to do the same, ignore the rules they'd set beforehand and ignore her when she tried to end the fight early. When they agreed not to use the force, he would end the fight by slamming her against the wall. When they agreed to no weapons, he would pull a quarterstaff off of the wall and attack her with it. If Ahsoka attempted to tap out, to say, "That's enough. I give up," he would only laugh.

"There is no surrender."

Two weeks into her captivity, they sparred in the training room, armed with quarterstaves, and Ahsoka actually gained an advantage by using Maul's bionics against him. She'd step up on them to get leverage so she could pull herself over his shoulders and strike him from behind with her staff, or plant her staff where he intended to step and push him off. She had actually grabbed a hold of his arm and begun to pull him to the floor when suddenly he snarled and raised her off the ground with the Force, strangling her.

"Maul!" she shouted. "Maul!"

He let her hang for a long time, snarling and hissing at her before finally dropping her to the ground. She coughed and tried to collect herself.

"I apologize, my apprentice, that was poor form," he said after a while. "But you must remember – you cannot trust your enemies to fight on your terms."

"I am not your apprentice," Ahsoka hissed.

He glowered down at her. "You spar with me. Train with me. Meditate with me. Eat with me. What are you if not my apprentice?"

"I am a prisoner here," Ahsoka reminded him. "I didn't come by choice."

"Perhaps you came to me through the Force," Maul suggested.

"It wasn't the Force," she snapped. "It was just a mistake."

Maul shrugged. "Get some rest, Lady Tano."


	4. Departure I

It was time for Ahsoka to leave. It wasn't that she had wanted to stay before but more that she wasn't sure if she should stay and try to unravel Maul's operation or mind her own business. If she couldn't beat Maul one-on-one, she wouldn't be able to do much to his men. She started watching him intently, searching for openings when he ate, when he rested.

If Ahsoka was going to fight Maul on equal footing, she needed a new lightsaber. She wasn't sure where she'd find the components, the crystal, or anything. But against that ancient thing, shoddy parts wouldn't make much of a difference. She just needed a crystal.

That was an obstacle. She'd never been able to sneak out of the warehouse without Maul noticing, and heading her off. She'd tried four times in the first week and he'd either Forced her out of her hiding spot or waited in the doorway with his saber drawn and ignited. After they first started sparring she thought she might learn his patterns and figure out a way to beat him, but that went sour quick. So her options were catch him off guard or let him teach her. Let him think he could teach her. But she didn't like that option, so she waited.

She noticed a few things.

Maul was a light sleeper. He slept maybe a few hours at a time and would wake up, pace for a while, then go back to sleep. If there was any noise at all, he stirred. Ahsoka slept in a room adjacent to his, and she made a point of slamming her fist against the wall on random occasions to rouse him, then shutting her eyes and feigning sleep if he ever cared enough to come and check on her.

Maul was like a kathound when he ate. She didn't dare interrupt him then.

Maul had no mind tricks at his disposal. He was purely physical, lifting bodies and slamming them into objects, lifting objects and slamming them into bodies, choking his victims with the Force. Ahsoka had him beat there. She could at least get his guards out of the way without much of a hassle at all.

But that wasn't enough to escape and by the end of the week Maul was back to his habits of insisting they spar.

"If you want to spar, you'll have to put away your weapon," Ahsoka had said every time, indicating the sword he'd stolen from Vizla. Lifted from his corpse. She hoped that if he indulged her he might lower his guard long enough for her to steal it back.

He'd smirked, looked amused. "Another time, Lady Tano."

It was too bad.

Maul woke up early one morning and roused Ahsoka by pounding on the door and poking his head in. "Lady Tano. Get dressed, now. We have something to discuss."

She'd thrown the blankets up over herself in surprise but Maul was gone in seconds. She did as he asked, dressing in black leggings, her old boots, and a black tunic which she threw a leather jacket over. She felt naked without her lightsabers on her hips.

"I won't wait another minute," Maul yelled from just outside.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and stepped outside. "What's the hurry?"

"We'll be headed," he paused, thumbed at his saber, "off-planet today."

That was unexpected. He didn't elaborate and so Ahsoka pressed, "Where is 'off-planet' then?"

"Korriban," Maul replied.

Ahsoka didn't like that idea. She directed a hard stare at Maul and when he didn't react she said, "A Sith planet?"

"It is a place strong with the Force. A resting ground of powerful Force-wielders," Maul said, but Ahsoka already knew what Korriban was. She knew it was the resting site of Sith Lords. "Once there we will study the ruins, meditate…"

"Bask in the Dark Side of the Force?" Ahsoka quipped.

"Perhaps," Maul replied. "Let us go. It will be a long journey and we will be making it alone."

Ahsoka had no idea when Maul had planned this, or when he had decided that they would be taking such a journey, but she did not mask her disapproval. "I won't go."

"My apprentice," Ahsoka didn't let him finish.

"I am not your apprentice."

"Then you are my prisoner, and I wish you to accompany me off-planet. Do you wish to challenge me?"

Ahsoka's feet drifted apart into a close but solid stance without her noticing.

But Maul noticed, and he sneered and threw a quick side kick at her gut. She moved to block and remembered to dodge at the last moment, twisting out of the way and rolling across the floor before landing in a crouch. Maul followed up with a twisting kick and she struggled to evade that one as well, leaning so far back she almost lost her balance.

She didn't see him Force-pulling a crate from behind her, and she stumbled head-first into it and collapsed.

Maul glowering down at her was the last thing she saw before she passed out.


	5. Freighter I

The ship was small, and cramped, and cold, and Ahsoka woke as they broke through the atmosphere, her head cloudy enough as it was without the rush of the engine. Maul had strapped her into the copilot's chair but her hands were tied to the armrests. She didn't feel them til she tried to rub the back of her head, and then they tore into her wrists.

"Where exactly did you think I was going to escape to?" she muttered.

Maul kept his focus on the controls until they'd cleared the atmosphere and reached whatever hyperspace route he planned to use. Then he switched to autopilot and leaned back in his chair, folded his arms, and closed his eyes.

"Hey. Little help?"

"I will consider it," Maul said without opening his eyes. He waited a moment, Ahsoka watching incredulously from her chair, then said, "No."

"When I break out of here," she growled.

Maul waved a hand at her dismissively and interrupted, "Whatever it is you're going to do, do it quietly."

"What, you're going to sleep all the way to Korriban?"

Maul grunted something in the affirmative, and Ahsoka groaned.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"As I said, do what you will. Quietly."

Ahsoka leaned back in her chair and pouted for a moment before recomposing herself and glancing about the cabin. It was a compact ship. Every inch of storage space was in use, filled with crates of supplies for their current trip. It wasn't in a state of disrepair like her speeder had been. The controls were familiar to her – she'd flown similar styles of ships before. But there wasn't much immediately at her disposal that she could use to escape. No sharp objects lying around, no metal rods leaning against the cabin. And it wouldn't be safe to takeoff with any such things in the cabin at all.

She was bound at her legs, her wrists, and by the flight harness attached to the chair. She settled into the chair for a moment, and closed her eyes. She couldn't see how the binds were done, but she could feel them out at least. It was quiet with just Maul and her in the cabin, so Ahsoka found it easy to clear her mind. She prodded the knot through the Force, her lip quirking as she encountered more of the obstacles. She fed the end of the knot back through the center, and through all of the other knots he'd tied. There were dozens of them, some made with cord and others with wire. She couldn't help but be annoyed by how thorough he was.

Ahsoka freed her right hand as Maul was waking up. He cracked an eye open to glance at her, and scoffed.

"What?" she said, unbuckling her harness and moving on to untie her other wrist.

"Did the Jedi teach you anything?" he said with a smirk.

"They taught me enough," she said. She worked out the knots with her nails and moved onto the ones on her ankles. It took another twenty minutes, during which Maul silently watched the computer and the voice around them, breathing slowly and evenly. Meditating in his chair. When she got her legs free, she stood up and stretched her arms over her head. "How long are we going to be in here?"

"A while."

And a while it was. Ahsoka paced in the cabin, meditated in various positions, laid on the cabin floor and stared at the faults in the ceiling panels, paced some more, inspected the crates before Maul shouted for her to leave those alone. And then, tucked into a small compartment in the arm of her chair, she found a deck of cards.

"What's this?" she said, flipping through the desk. It was a deck of cards numbered one through ten, some labeled positive and others negative, some both. "Maul."

He had been sleeping again, and this time he came to slowly, groaning and baring his teeth. "What do you want?"

"What're these?" Ahsoka asked, knowing full well she was holding a Pazaak deck.

"Some idiotic game," Maul said.

"Great," Ahsoka said, sitting crosslegged on the arm of her chair. "Let's play."

Maul cracked his neck loudly and sighed. Then he said, "Cut the deck."

Maul and Ahsoka played Pazaak. They had nothing to gamble so they kept a verbal score. Maul was winning, ten to two. It took Ahsoka a few games to get the hang of the system but after her first two wins he hadn't paused since. He kept drawing perfect hands or anticipating that her hands would be faulty. It occurred to her, after listening to him for a while, that he might be using the Force somehow.

"Are you cheating?" she asked.

"And what would I have to gain from that, my apprentice?"

"I am not—"

"So you've said," he waved his hand.

They played for a while more and Ahsoka didn't win another match. She got the idea to play with her hand on the console, face-down, so if he was looking at a reflection somehow he wouldn't see it. He didn't react, instead drawing his next hand and resuming the game.

They drew a ten and a four. Ahsoka played her ten. End of turn.

They next drew a three and a two. Ahsoka played a five. Maul played an eight. Next turn, Ahsoka drew another three and Maul drew a ten. End of turn.

Last round, Maul drew a five and played nothing. Ahsoka drew an eight and played a four. Next round, Maul drew a four and Ahsoka drew a seven. End of turn.

End of game. Ahsoka pursed her lips and glared at the hand.

"Do you still think that I'm cheating?" Maul said with a smirk.

"Maybe not," she said, leaning back in her chair. If she lost that many times in a row it must not have been bad luck, but she had never played the game much before. She'd played with Anakin a few times on lengthy missions, though Obi Wan had always interjected his disapproval. Maybe Anakin wasn't a good Pazaak player either. "I think I'm done here."

"Why? We have time."

Ahsoka scowled deeply, realizing it was more of Maul's attempts to train her, or to convert her, or whatever it was he was doing. He was just trying to frustrate her, though to what immediate end she didn't know. But provoking your copilot in hyperspace seemed to be a generally bad idea, from Ahsoka's standpoint.

But instead of calling him on his latest attempt at converting her to the Dark Side she quipped, "You were the one who said this game was for idiots."

Maul growled something about not saying that and did not protest as they put the deck away.


	6. Korriban I

After a long and boring journey through hyperspace Maul finally took control of the ship and indicated the red planet he and his intended apprentice would land on. "Do you see it? Korriban. It is the final resting place of the Sith Lords—"

"You claim not to be a Sith, then you take me to Korriban," Ahsoka said, still sitting cross-legged on the floor behind the chairs. She had been meditating in silence for a while, trying to reach through the Force to contact anyone she knew. Except Anakin. "That's consistent."

"Your perception is limited by your upbringing," Maul accused. "Have a seat."

Ahsoka stood and moved into her chair, strapping herself in as Maul continued.

"Not all who wield the Dark Side are Sith," Maul continued. "There are others. But there are places strong in the Dark Side of the Force and Korriban is one such place. We will go, and study the temples together."

"Why Korriban?" Ahsoka pried. She had no intention to learn about the Dark Side, but there could be historic relics within the temples worth examining. Such things had never been her forte, but she could appreciate them. Besides that, if she found anything valuable inside the temple she might be able to pawn it for a new speeder or a ride off Nar Shadda, far away from Maul. If she found a lightsaber crystal, she might be able to fight him off. "What about Dathomir?"

Maul growled. "It is not possible. For now."

"Or one of the dozens of temples from the days of the Old Republic," she continued, reciting knowledge she'd received from the very upbringing Maul resented so much. "There are other places much easier to reach."

"And yet we are here," Maul said flatly. "And we will be landing momentarily."

He aligned his coordinates, entered the planet's orbit, and took them down in the space of a few hours. It was another long, boring process during which they didn't speak at all.

They landed in a dusty outcropping surrounded by pillars barely attached to their bases. Some had collapsed years ago. The field was filled with wraids and tuk'ata, all skin and bones and drooling over the scent of Maul and Ahsoka's rations. They swarmed the ship and clawed at the windows and doors, but were too weak to do any real damage.

"Let us not waste time. Our presence may call to others strong in the Dark Side."

That roused the question of why Maul had chosen to bring her in the first place, but Ahsoka did not argue. The last thing she needed was someone like Count Dooku accosting them.

"Shouldn't we wait for them to clear out?"

"Are you afraid, my apprentice?"

Ahsoka glared but didn't bother repeating herself. He knew how she felt. He was just trying to irritate her. "I need a weapon."

"Do not worry," he said. "I will protect you."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

They stood before the door. Maul indicated for Ahsoka to walk ahead and man the control panel so he could come out ready for combat. He ignited his saber. Ahsoka pulled the switch to open the hatch and backed up behind Maul, ready to follow him.

The hatch opened perilously slowly, which meant they had to keep the hounds at bay while it was closing. Ahsoka cracked her neck in preparation. So did Maul.

Claws jammed through the opening the moment it was opened enough. Gnashing jaws and flailing wraids crammed between the frame and the hatch while Maul assumed a stance. Ahsoka shut her eyes and began to feel the Force.

It was cold. She pushed on anyway and as soon as she felt the tuk'ata making headway she pushed, hard, so they all flew hard across the clearing and slammed into a rocky bluff. Then she and Maul leapt through the hatch and closed it behind them.

Maul fought as viciously as the hounds and shrieks. He slashed at them, kicked at them, and from where Ahsoka stood she could recognize the form. Form seven, Vapaad. Only she felt strange thinking of Master Windu's form as something shared by Maul.

The tuk'ata slowly began to slink off as they realized Maul was not worthwhile prey. Others attempted to approach Ahsoka and she pushed them off or kicked them aside. The wraids Maul cut out of the air. Maul killed at least three of them before the others thought better of attacking and ran away, tailing the cowardly tuk'ata.

Ahsoka sighed, loudly. Maul glanced back at her, brow knitted at the bridge of his nose.

"Are you tired?"

"Not really," Ahsoka said. She hadn't had to fight off so many enemies in a long time, and she'd almost forgotten what it felt like. She almost missed it.

Maul's lips quirked upwards at the corners but he turned before she could be sure. "Follow me. And stay close."

Maul took off in a sprint. Ahsoka sprinted after him. She was fast, and acrobatic, but she had no idea where he was taking her. He hadn't named any particular tomb and it wasn't as if Ahsoka had actually been to Korriban before. The whole planet felt cold, empty, except for the occasional stirring of wind or a tuk'ata.

And finally they came across a structure, practically buried in sand except for one low, lonely set of stone doors etched with a language Ahsoka had never seen. Maul extended a hand and closed his eyes while he pushed apart the doors, slowly.

"Go on," he grunted.

Ahsoka stepped inside, glancing behind her. Maul strained to hold the doors as he followed after, and the moment he was safely within the entry he dropped the doors closed. He didn't make a show of whatever discomfort that caused, but Ahsoka could tell he had strained.

He was like a wounded animal hiding his pain.

She wondered if she could take him down, in that moment, and escape to the ship. But before she could he planted a hand on her shoulder and said, "Keep close. We must move quickly."

He was close enough that if she had a weapon she might have turned it on him. And she did, in a way, attached to Maul's belt. She grabbed at it and he caught her wrist and held it up over her head, baring teeth.

"Do not test me, my apprentice."

Ahsoka grimaced as he squeezed her wrist tight. "I'm sorry."

He dropped her, and beckoned she follow. She did so without another word and they travelled through the dim corridor by the light of Maul's saber. Occasionally a shyrack would drop out of a crevice in the ceiling and attack them but Maul would either cut it down or leave Ahsoka to catch it in a Force grip. After a time they came to an altar, surrounded by dim sconces that had no business staying lit after so many years unattended.

The room was wide and barren and multiple doors in tall, trapezoidal cuts remained bolted. There were eight in total. Ahsoka watched as Maul approached the altar, turning off his blade. "Come," he said. "Look at this."

Ahsoka approached reluctantly, gripping her arm. It was freezing in the temple, even though the planet's surface was broiling hot. Maul was even less covered than she was and he didn't seem bothered at all.

"Do you see it?" he said. "Do you feel the power emanating from this place?"

"I feel like I could have stood to dress in more layers."

"It is as cold as the void of space, isn't it?" he said, much too proudly. "But look further. Place your hand here."

He gestured to a circle on the altar, and Ahsoka hesitated. Maul glared back at her, reached for her wrist before she withdrew.

"Must our every lesson end in a struggle?" Maul said.

"What temple is this?" Ahsoka demanded.

"You will know if you open yourself to the Force," Maul said.

"Right," Ahsoka said. "And I'll build myself a red lightsaber next. Who is buried here?"

"XoXaan," he replied. "Now stop wasting time."

Ahsoka did not know the name, or the story behind the temple. She slowly approached the altar and laid a hand over the etchings, let her fingers run across the deep rivets and the foreign text. The altar felt even colder than the air. Ahsoka clenched her teeth and suppressed a shiver as she ran her hands down the circle in the center of the altar. It came alive, cracked and twisted and grew suddenly hot as a door ahead of them opened.

"That is your path. You must go, alone, my apprentice."

Ahsoka didn't even think to correct him this time. She glanced back only momentarily as she proceeded deeper into the temple.


	7. Korriban II

The moment Ahsoka saw Obi Wan and Anakin standing side by side, waiting to receive her on the Jedi Temple's pavilion, she knew it was not real. This was not Ahsoka's first vision. But she still smiled warmly at the pair, and as they approached she almost wished it were not a dream. It was stupid. She wouldn't have gone back.

"Hey Snips," Anakin said.

"Ahsoka. Are you doing well?" Obi Wan added.

As if she had never left.

And that was where the pleasant, warm air on the pavilion turned frigid and the sky darkened with storming clouds. Her master drew his lightsaber and assumed his stance and Obi Wan did the same. Ahsoka reached for hers…and there was nothing.

"Master?" she said.

"You killed," Anakin growled, his voice contorted with rage, "hundreds. And do you even care?"

Tinnies, and machines, she thought, but then Obi Wan added, "The ships you've destroyed, the people you've abandoned."

"I've never abandoned anyone!" Ahsoka backed away incredulously as her masters stalked her, circling her. Obi Wan circled behind while Anakin circled in front.

"You ran away," Anakin said.

"You abandoned the Order," Obi Wan said.

"You abandoned me," a soft, Mandalorian voice mumbled. Lux.

Baris entered the scene, as did a swarm of clone troopers with painted helmets. Wolf. Rex. But it was Baris Ahsoka focused on.

Ahsoka's fists clenched tightly and her chest felt tight and heavy. Baris had been her friend. Ahsoka had even saved her life. She hadn't given up on Baris even when her mind was gone, captured by parasites, and Baris attacked her relentlessly. Ahsoka had held her off long enough to get her into the blast freezer where the cold would kill the worms and Baris repaid her with betrayal. She'd framed her for the crime, made her fight off more of her friends just to clear her name. Ahsoka's head swam as she stared down the blue-eyed traitor.

"I never abandoned you, Baris," she hissed.

She was hurt. Her chest hurt. Her head hurt. Everything felt tight and heavy and she wished she had never known Baris fondly. She wished she could be angry, but she only felt void. A lapse in breathing. A slow pulse. Her face felt cold and clammy like the Dark Side but it wasn't the Dark Side she felt.

Ahsoka didn't want to hurt Baris.

"You're a coward," they all said. Even Baris.

"If you had killed me," Baris said, "Like I asked, instead of running away, you could still be a Jedi. You could live in ignorance the way you've left your master."

Ahsoka wanted to run. There were dozens of them, all the people who she'd seen and been unable to help. And then she stopped, stood her ground and took a deep breath. It was just a vision. Her blood ran cold but it was just a vision.

"I was a coward," she said. "I followed orders instead of doing what I thought was right too many times. But I stood by you, Baris. I saved your life. Twice."

Her anger echoed dimly from the recesses of her mind, locked far away where it couldn't become a weapon. But the Force tapped into it and while the others disappeared, Obi Wan and Anakin remained, their sabers ignited.

"She wants revenge," Obi Wan said.

"I do not," Ahsoka insisted.

"You can't lie to me, Snips," Anakin said.

They came at her and Ahsoka had no choice but to duck between them and watch them slash at each other. Anakin slashed at Obi Wan who evaded and aimed low to the ground. Ahsoka cut around Anakin and Obi Wan impaled her master. She covered her mouth and stared as he kept cutting, slicing his arms and legs and leaving him prone on the ground.

She picked up his lightsaber from the ground and found when she ignited it, it was no longer a blue weapon like her master's but instead a stark white plasma, intensely hot in her hands but somehow right.

It almost felt like her first lightsaber.

Obi Wan assumed his Soresu stance and Ahsoka turned the blade into a reverse grip before they clashed. She spun and kicked at Obi Wan's legs and he evaded and planted his blade wherever Ahsoka tried to turn. And then she became aggressive, switching from her usual style to form seven. Maul's style.

She hurled herself at Obi Wan and cut around at the last second, slashing at his calves and incapacitating him. She retracted her saber and stood over him, both panting and out of breath, before the room went dark.

Obi Wan disappeared, and so did Anakin's prone form. In his place stood Baris, her cowl obscuring her face. Ahsoka still gripped her saber tightly, ready to fight at any moment. The lights on the pavilion dimmed, and even Baris started to fade into the darkness.

"Do you regret saving me?" Baris asked.

Ahsoka hesitated. "No," she said. "Of course not."

Ahsoka couldn't see Baris's eyes but she could see Baris's lips curl into a faint smile.

"You're lying," Baris said.

And before Ahsoka could protest the vision ended, the saber disappeared from her grasp and the room regained a faint, red glow from sconces on the wall. Ahsoka bowed her head and sniffed. She held her fist against her hand and felt that her saber had not entirely disappeared. A warm crystal dug into her palm and glowed like a lightning bug. Ahsoka opened her hand to see the silver crystal, heard it calling to her.

She held it tightly and moved onward. This was exactly what she had hoped for.


	8. Korriban III

When Ahsoka reached the next chamber, it was a smaller room than the one she'd come from with a simple rounded font in the center of the room. Maul stood beside it, his back turned.

"Maul," she said. "How did you get here so fast?"

"What is that in your hand?"

"It's nothing," she said, slipping her hand into her pocket.

"Show me."

She showed him an empty palm but he shook his head and stalked forward. Before he could escalate the situation she drew the crystal from her pocket and showed him. A silver crystal.

"That is unusual," he said slowly. "Red crystals are the most common here…some yellow, some orange."

Maul smiled almost warmly, flashing rotten teeth.

"Well done."

Ahsoka hadn't heard of a silver lightsaber being associated with the Dark Side of the Force. She had no idea why Maul was smiling. So she changed the subject. "How did you get here so quickly?"

"I have trained my whole life in the Force, my apprentice, and this is no different."

"Was this what we came for?" she said, pocketing the crystal.

"Not…entirely. No, no," he muttered, turning and pacing the room. "Now that you have the crystal you require other parts which would be difficult to obtain on Nar Shadda…but that is not why we came."

Maul ignited his saber and turned his back to Ahsoka.

"Do you know the Sith code, my apprentice?"

"Why would I, if my would-be master claims not to be a Sith?" Ahsoka retorted.

"But in order to defeat a Sith," Maul said, "You must know how they think. How many Sith lords have you defeated in battle?"

"Well, none," she said.

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. That is the code of the Sith. Do you require an explanation?"

"I think I'm good," Ahsoka said.

"My apprentice," he said. "If you do not seek knowledge, how do you expect to defeat your enemies?"

"I've managed," she said, eyeing Maul's saber. It called to her too. If she could just get it away from him, she might be able to beat him and escape.

Maul lashed out quickly, spinning and slashing at Ahsoka. She ducked out of the way and retreated to a far corner of the room, on guard, ready to pounce off the wall if she had to.

"Without conflict, there is no growth," he said. "Without strife there is no growth. If you cling to these Jedi ideals you will never be strong enough to defeat me."

He paused.

"Like your friend, Kenobi."

Ahsoka's gut wrenched. She hadn't said a word to Maul, hadn't let slip a word about Anakin or Kenobi or any of the Jedi she'd served with. She tried to feign ignorance, "Master Kenobi and I aren't friends—"

"I had my men search your hiding place after I found you," Maul snapped. He slashed the wall beside them and Ahsoka did not flinch as sparks flew at her face and around her. "I found your comlink. Your friend attempted to contact you. Why?"

"Did you bring me off planet just to ask me that?" Ahsoka said slowly.

"Of course not," he growled. "Answer me."

"When I left the order, Master Kenobi loaned me some credits," she said. "I was going to pay him back before I got mixed up with you."

"Really?" Maul asked dryly. "In the message he left, he sounded quite concerned. How many credits did you borrow then? Five thousand?"

"Three thousand," Ahsoka said. He'd offered more to the tune of ten thousand paid out over a few months but Ahsoka had refused, saying that was too much and she wanted to pay him back when she was able. Anakin had gifted her a speeder and Ahsoka had learned after it was one of the junk speeders, too late, late enough to get caught up in all of this.

"That doesn't seem so high," Maul drawled. "He seemed much more concerned about you contacting him than I would be over a measly three-thousand credits."

"Says the one extorting children for a pittance," Ahsoka muttered.

"How do you know him? Tell me now."

Ahsoka glanced up, realizing something. "You don't know anything, do you?"

He snarled.

"You aren't Maul," she said. It was another vision. Another trial meant to challenge her fears, meant to turn her to the Dark Side of the Force. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I am not afraid of you."

She waited for a shout, a blow, the searing pain of a lightsaber tearing through flesh, but nothing happened. When she opened her eyes the illusion was broken and she found another door which she proceeded through quietly. The next room was empty save for a long table and a hatch on the floor ahead, with a triangular carving above it. Ahsoka wondered if this too was a door.

Maul entered from a different entrance off to the left. Ahsoka eyed him cautiously as he paced through the triangular doorway sporting a fresh cut on his left shoulder but seemed otherwise unfazed. When Maul glanced to Ahsoka. She looked away.

"Excellent timing, Lady Tano," Maul said. "And here we have reached the burial place of XoXaan. I am sure the tomb has already been disturbed, since there are no traps here."

"It's possible," she said breathlessly. A pause. "How did you cut your shoulder if there aren't any traps?"

Maul ignored her, approaching the long table and standing at the end of it. He inspected the room carefully and eyed the hatch up above. "There," he said, pointing to the hatch. "That is our target now."

"What's in it?" she said, playing along.

"Considering we are in the tomb of XoXaan, I would say these are the remains of XoXaan. Are you prepared for a confrontation, my apprentice?"

"I will be if you don't stop calling me that," Ahsoka said.

"In that case," Maul said, reaching for his belt. He tossed Ahsoka a saber and she stared at him, incredulous.

"When did you get this?" she asked. "Where did you get this?"

"Do not get too excited," he said. "It is only a training saber. But it should suffice for now."

Ahsoka pursed her lips and eyed the saber. She ignited it, flipped it to her preferred shien grip and made a few experimental slashes. It was lightweight compared to her sabers. The sabers she'd left at the temple were much heavier, more balanced. It felt like fighting with a twig.

"Get ready," he said. "I'm going to open this tomb."

Maul drew his own saber and stood before the altar, extending a hand and cracking his neck. What was it with him and cracking his neck? Ahsoka watched as his body tensed and sweat beaded on the back of his neck. The hatch groaned its reluctance to budge but Maul pushed on. Suddenly the stone clicked and Maul twisted his body, wrenching the hatch out of its frame. It ran much deeper than Ahsoka expected, with a device almost as long as Maul was tall lined up carefully.

Ahsoka felt a chill as the newly opened compartment flashed a harsh yellow. She covered her eyes and looked away.

"Be ready," Maul snarled.

A wraith screeched from the hatch and poured out like liquid hate. Ahsoka clenched her jaw to suppress a shiver and resumed her stance. Dust and light filled the room, blinding her, but she could still hear. Light, airy footsteps on the table. Maul's measured breathing. The grinding of his bionics.

"You dare disturb my tomb?" a thin, airy voice asked from the table. XoXaan. "A failed Sith, and a failed Jedi. I would have expected more from anyone who could survive this long."

The hum of a saber slicing through stone before meeting another saber.

Ahsoka took a defensive stance and cracked an eye open. A thin, gray woman stood on the table, her head shaven, her eyes a screaming red. She held one single red lightsaber down into the stone to block Maul's underhanded attack. And Ahsoka could almost see through her.

"I will kill you both quickly," she said.

XoXaan jumped and kicked Maul down before darting for Ahsoka. Ahsoka flipped over the table and landed in a crouch, moved to block with her saber before Maul yelled, "Don't!"

She dodged the blow instead. "What's the point of this thing?" she yelled.

"Wait for my signal," Maul growled. "Then attack."

Maul clashed blades with the woman, sparks flew, but she wouldn't cooperate for long. She moved out of the way and slashed at Maul's side. He blocked, kicked at her trunk, followed through with another slash, but she blocked and evaded every attack. Then she lashed out with the Force at Ahsoka, threw her across the room and laughed a thin, hollow laugh.

Ahsoka recovered quickly and circled the room while Maul clashed blades with her, ignoring the unbearable stench of decay and the bone-chilling cold in the room. She ran up behind XoXaan and slashed at her midsection.

XoXaan moved to block. Ahsoka's blade passed right through hers like it was made of air and Maul slammed his horned head into her back, throwing her off balance. Ahsoka slipped between her saber and with all of her might drove the saber through XoXaan's tattooed throat.

The wraith dissipated, a thin smile creeping over her face.

And then it was over, and Maul and Ahsoka stood exhausted in the room.

"And what exactly was the point of that?" Ahsoka asked.

"Do you want to stay in this tomb, or would you like to leave?" Maul retorted. Maul snatched the training saber from Ahsoka, which she didn't mind. It wasn't useful against a real Lightsaber. He indicated the hatch they had opened and said, "This way. Walk in front."

"You're the one with the lightsaber," Ahsoka said with a faux curtsy. Then she leapt into the hatch, rolled, and walked onward. She groped for anything that could be of use to her but it was empty. Maul followed shortly after, pausing only to replace the door to the hatch where he had found it, locking it before he followed.

Ahsoka reached the end of the tunnel long before Maul. After a while she found a simple metal hatch which she opened and slipped out of onto a rocky bluff. The chill she'd felt in the tomb hadn't dissipated and she hoped a moment in the sun might warm her, but it didn't. She let herself have one moment of vulnerability, one moment where she gripped her own elbows and tucked her chin close to her collar, sniffed, and Maul appeared after her, planting a calloused hand on her shoulder.

"Now is not the time for this," he said.

"I just need a minute," she said breathlessly.

"There is no time," he replied. "We should get back to the ship. I sense others will be arriving shortly."

Ahsoka almost wanted to let them come so she could watch Maul squirm. But she pushed that thought out of her mind and sighed. "It took us so long to get out here. How could others be coming already?"

"You are blinding yourself," he muttered. "If you allow yourself to feel the Dark Side, you will feel others strong in it. If you limit yourself, you will not."

"I'm good, thanks."

Maul snorted, and snarled, but Ahsoka didn't pay him any mind. She instead perched on the edge of the bluff and tried to spy their ship. Then she glanced back to him, nodded, and leapt off towards the ship.

As expected the ship was already swarmed with more Wraids and Tuk'ata screaming and clawing at the windows. Ahsoka was nearly silent as she crept by, hiding behind a pillar while she got a good look at the creatures. She picked out a stray, a small Tuk'ata who had tailed too far behind its pack, and reached out to it with the Force.

The creature picked up on her signals and calmed, sitting quietly as it watched the rest of its pack trying to get at their remaining rations. And as Ahsoka commanded it to howl, Maul ran up behind it and slashed its head clean off.

"Maul!" she snapped. "Why did you do that? I had it under control!"

"You're wasting time," he yelled. And once again Maul slashed at a swarm of Wraids and Tuk'ata while Ahsoka supported him from afar, blasting them away with the Force and pushing them aside. He slammed on his remote for the door to open and the hatch opened slowly while Ahsoka closed the distance. As soon as it was wide enough, she leapt in.

She expected Maul to follow but he didn't stop until he'd killed every last beast trying to get at the ship. She watched from inside, incredulous. He was already injured and he wanted to keep fighting. They didn't even have to fight.

And when he stood, surrounded by the bodies of all of those beasts, he glowered down at them, panting heavily.

"So it's OK for you to waste time but not me?"

Maul grunted, said nothing, and climbed into the ship.


	9. Departure II

Their trip home was quiet. Eventually Maul indicated that he knew Ahsoka had a crystal in her pocket and he intended to oversee her lightsaber's construction. Ahsoka indicated that she knew that he knew about the crystal, and irritated they ignored each other for most of the remaining trip. It wasn't until they landed that Ahsoka remembered him screaming out for her not to block XoXaan's blade, and she couldn't help but wonder why.

It was impassioned, fearful somewhere deep below. But it didn't sound very Dark Side.

They returned to the warehouse which was left suspiciously less guarded than Maul had left it. But he didn't comment on it, and neither did Ahsoka. They took dinner, they trained as usual, and they went to sleep. And the next morning Maul didn't wake Ahsoka. She woke early, stirring in bed before Maul had a chance to disturb her sleep.

With so few mercenaries lurking about, Ahsoka saw an opportunity.

She crept out of her room and up by the training room where she grabbed a quarterstaff off of the wall and kept walking. She found a good spot in the rafters to watch the guards and waited for one of them to wander outside. Then she pounced on the remaining one, striking him over the head with her staff and quickly bashing the inattentive merc in the lower back. He fell, groaning, and Ahsoka walked right on past.

"Sorry," she said. "But I've got my own business to take care of."

First, she ran back to her hideaway. It had remained mostly untouched, except by the vermin that now infested it. She'd kept them away with subtle pushes of the Force but now they crawled all over her few possessions, even her comm. She scrunched her nose as she inspected her hammock, brushing rodents and spiders out of the way. Then she found her makeshift communicator with a worn-down power cell. There was just enough power for one or two more calls.

It was close.

Ahsoka took the com with her and left her hideaway. When Maul found out what she did, and she had no doubts that he would, this was the first place he would look. The second place would probably be back at his ship, which would make escaping difficult. But not impossible.

She walked while she tried to fiddle with the com, dialing Obi Wan. She kept the holo image off and clipped the com to the inside collar of her jacket so no one would eye it too hard. She stayed off the busy streets as it hummed.

And then he picked up.

"Ahsoka! Are you alright? It's been a long time since you've called. I was getting worried," he said warmly.

"I'm fine, Master," Ahsoka said quietly. "Do you know what happened to Maul?"

"The last I saw him was on Mandalore, but I heard he disappeared."

"I found him," Ahsoka said.

There was a long pause. Then Obi Wan said, "Ahsoka, whatever you do, do not engage him."

Too late. But Ahsoka didn't want to worry him too much. Instead she said, "He's holed up here in Nar Shadda. That's a little hard to do."

"Be careful, Ahsoka. Maul is ruthless, arrogant…he will be very dangerous to you," Obi Wan warned. Too late. "I have seen what he is capable of."

"I'm being careful, Master," Ahsoka lied.

She checked both ways before leaping over a walkway to land closer to the hangar. No one saw her, except maybe some men in their cruisers. But she'd be gone before they could do anything about it.

She found the correct landing pad and crept past the shoddy security on the docks. Maul controlled this port. Everyone knew it, so they steered clear. Obi Wan stayed on the line, and every now and again he would ask a question. How was she eating? Was she keeping herself occupied? She kept her answers short so she didn't have to lie or make him worry. Because he would worry, and she could already hear it in the hitches between his words, the way his breaths caught in his throat. The way he stayed on the link even when she had little to say.

The worst thing she could do was make him worry. He would tell Anakin. And Anakin would come rushing down to help, which Ahsoka just didn't want.

As she opened the hatch to the little freighter, she sighed. No supplies. Just her and the ship. And a pazaak deck strewn carelessly across the floor.

"Obi Wan, how much do you think I can get for a T-wing?"

"Well that depends on the—"

Her com cut out unexpectedly. Something was jamming her signal and all she could hear was static and garbled voices. She closed the hatch behind her and went to sit in the cockpit. She might be able to boost her signal once she took off.

She took a seat and fiddled with the controls. It wasn't a completely foreign make of ship and after a bit of experimentation she got the hatch closed and the engine revved. She just needed coordinates, clearance, someone to open the bay.

Ahsoka smacked her head against the console. She hadn't thought that far ahead. She hadn't even expected to get so far without being accosted.

The communicator on the ship began to flash red. Ahsoka reluctantly answered the call. "Yes?"

"Do you have clearance for takeoff?"

Ahsoka wondered.

"Yes," she said, closing her eyes and focusing on the Force. She had never done this before – never at such a long distance. But she could feel, not far off, a receptive mind bending to her will. "I have clearance."

The gate opened. And Ahsoka flew.


	10. Freighter II

Ahsoka didn't know where else to go, so she punched in the coordinates for Dantooine. There used to be a Jedi Temple there, and if nothing else it would deter Maul from following. She could get a hold of her things once she got away. She might even be able to build a new lightsaber, salvage in the old temple. She liked the little silver crystal in her pocket, held it in her hand as the ship rushed through hyperspace. It would be a while before she made any real headway. At least a day. Maybe two.

She stood and stretched while the ship flew on autopilot. She wouldn't have to take control of the ship until she orbited the planet, which gave her time to stretch, and meditate, and get really bored really fast. She tried recharging her communicator on the ship's computer, but now she couldn't reach Obi Wan. Maybe it was the ship. Maybe Maul had done something to it.

It occurred to Ahsoka that Maul might be tracking her, and might be somewhat reluctant to lose his new apprentice, but he would have to be a damned good pilot to stop her from getting on the ground. And he'd be hard pressed to get her back without killing her. The ship may not have had many offensive capabilities, but Ahsoka could make due.

Not that she would like to engage if she could avoid it. Dying wasn't very high on her list of priorities.

A few hours in Ahsoka dozed off and promptly awoke to a red-blue flash on her ship's comm system. She stood slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and answered.

Maul's face appeared on the dashboard, an airy blue, flickering hologram. An angry blue twitching hologram with a curled lip. Ahsoka almost recoiled, but straightened up and smirked down at it.

"I. Win," she said softly.

"Do you really think so?" Maul's voice hissed out of the comm.

"I really do," Ahsoka said. "Sure, it took me a while, but once I ditch this ship I'm gone."

Maul was silent like a stalking beast as he directed his withering stare somewhere away from the communicator. And then he raised a simple datapad where Ahsoka could see it. "But your…friend is not."

Ahsoka stared mutely at Maul.

"I pay far too much to keep those dock workers in line. You may have coerced them into letting you escape, but I know who you called. I know…"

About Kenobi.

He didn't have to say it.

Ahsoka could only stare tersely at the hologram as it shuffled about, moved to play the track. Ahsoka's distressed voice hummed through the datapad, Obi Wan's almost parental concern whistled out in reply. It didn't matter what was said – Ahsoka could feel guilt welling up in her chest. She never should have accepted his money. She should have refused, over and over again until he gave up. He never gave up. But she should have tried harder.

Maul hadn't been able to prevent her escape. But he had thought ahead for another possibility.

"You borrowed a figure of several thousand credits from one Jedi," he growled the next words as if to say them he had to spew magma from his throat, "Master Obi Wan Kenobi. And he insisted you need not pay him back."

"Master Kenobi is known for his generosity," Ahsoka said, but Maul laughed sharply.

"I know Kenobi," he hissed. "Who is he to you? Your old master? The one who rejected you?"

"Kenobi is not my master," Ahsoka snapped. "My master..." She didn't dare say Anakin's name. "Was another human. And he did not reject me."

Maul hummed his interest, "No matter then. Obi Wan will most likely come to collect his friend. Do you disagree?"

Ahsoka furrowed her brow. She wasn't with Maul. How could he—

"I don't need you when I have your voice, Lady Tano."

"Then what is to stop me from contacting Obi Wan myself?"

"Are you trying to imply you haven't done so already?" Maul asked, cocking his head. He grinned, baring his stained fangs as he said, "The communicator on your ship is locked, if you haven't noticed. You won't be able to reach a soul…unless they know to call you first."

How was she going to request a landing if she couldn't call the docking station? Her brow furrowed tightly as Maul laughed harshly.

"You can vie to escape if you wish," Maul laughed, "But if you do not return quickly, Obi Wan will come, and I will kill him."

Ahsoka swore, and swore again. She slammed her hand against the pilot's chair and paced the cockpit while Maul cackled to himself. There was no way to know for sure if he had really tricked Obi Wan into coming, if he could trick Obi Wan into coming. She would be able to get a new comlink on Dantooine. She'd be able to call and be sure but by then it might be too late.

"Your emotions betray you, Lady Tano," he crooned. Ahsoka extended a hand and crushed the hologram projector in a vice of the Force.

He hadn't called her his apprentice.

She sat in the pilot's chair and turned off the autopilot. For a moment, she wanted to float in dead space. She wanted to rest. She wanted to smash every part of that console and scream.

But there wasn't time for that. She reentered the coordinates for the Nar Shadda port and took off, hate welling in her chest before she pushed it deep down, well past the surface. She might still be able to play this to her advantage.


	11. Training Room II

Ahsoka came in for a rough landing, slamming the ship down on the docks. The bay closed instantly, but it didn't matter. She didn't have enough fuel and the air filters would be shot without fresh coolant. If she wanted to leave the planet now, she would have to find a new ship. And without any credits, without any contacts, she would be hard-pressed to do that.

The hologram projection on her ship was shot, but Maul's voice rasped from the speakers.

"Ahsoka," he said. He almost never called her by her first name. "I will be there momentarily. Come out of the ship and close the hatch on your way out."

Ahsoka didn't answer but the communicator cut out so she didn't have to. She sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and did as she was told. She couldn't let Obi Wan walk into a trap on her behalf.

She sat on the floor beside the ship, waiting for Maul to reach the landing bay. She tucked her legs closed to her bodies and hugged her knees to her chest, let her head fall into the cradle between her knees and chest. She waited for a short while before Maul arrived, unexpectedly lithe and almost gleeful as he stalked forward.

"You may stand," he said. Ahsoka did so slowly, her head spinning. She felt nauseous. "So good of you to come to your senses, my apprentice."

He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder and Ahsoka swatted him away. "I am not your apprentice."

He snarled, reached out more forcefully to grab her forearm and pulled her in close. "We will see about that."

He menaced like a beast. A real Sith. But she didn't argue as he led her back to the warehouse. When they arrive she was surprised to see the guards were even fewer, with just one sentry waiting to greet them at the gate.

"It looks to me that your men are slipping through your fingers," Ahsoka muttered.

Maul snarled. "There will be a time to regain them."

"Why are they leaving Maul? Are you forcing them out? Or are they running away?"

"As you did, my apprentice?"

Ahsoka's only regret in that regard was getting caught off guard, was calling Obi Wan too soon. Was letting Maul know her connections. She wondered if he had even contacted Obi Wan, if he wasn't just lying, but she could sense that his hatred for Obi Wan ran deep. Every mention of his name sent chills through the Force. Chills so cold they almost burned.

No. He would threaten Obi Wan. Taunt him. He couldn't resist.

He walked her up to the training room, closed the door behind them, and extended a hand. "Your lightsaber crystal. Give it to me."

Ahsoka shot him a withering stare. He hadn't gave any hint that he knew before. He clucked his tongue and stalked forward, drawing and lighting his saber.

"Give it to me, and I will not harm you."

She could see through the obvious lie and tensed for a fight. He slashed at her, but she evaded. He wasn't trying in earnest to hit her, just back her into a corner. Ahsoka wasn't shabby at hand-to-hand but Maul was no easy target. She kicked and lashed out at him whenever she could, jabbing under his arms and kneeing right under his ribs when he left himself open. He responded by blocking, kicking her legs out from under her.

Finally she got behind him and struck at his kidneys but Maul didn't collapse like she had hoped. Instead he turned off his lightsaber, stumbled one step and turned, eyes glowing like magma. He raised a hand. Ahsoka felt a hand grasping at her throat and groped to remove it, but she already knew it was Maul, using the Force to choke her. She shut her eyes tightly and strained to keep the Force from collapsing on her neck as he approached, stuffing his gruff hands in her pockets and removing the contents.

Scraps of paper. Little bolts she'd found lying precariously on the floor and forgotten to throw away.

Her lightsaber crystal.

He dropped her to the floor abruptly and she stumbled a step. And then instead of stopping and regaining her composure, she snarled and lunged at him.

He threw his arm up to cover his neck and face so Ahsoka's nails only dug into his forearm and chest and not his eyes like she was planning. She clawed at his hand where he held his saber and tried to pry his fingers off but his offhand clenched into a fist. She rolled to the side to evade him, spun and resumed a stance.

"What's wrong, Maul? Afraid you can't take me with a lightsaber?" Ahsoka snapped.

"I have no wish to kill you," Maul hissed. "But I will gut your friend in front of you."

In front of her, where she couldn't see, it was all the same to Ahsoka. But he would have to have the skill to back it up. She wasn't alarmed at the threat. And besides that—

"I imagine it won't have been the first time you've watched a friend die."

The faces and marks of all the Clones Ahsoka had served with came to mind, vivid and smiling just hours before they were shot, maimed, felled. Dead. She'd felt their little ripples in the Force cease herself, held a few in her arms. She'd watched seasoned Jedi Masters caught off guard and killed.

But Ahsoka pursed her lips and snapped, "You won't win."

She could feel it welling in her chest, like a storm.

"Are you angry, my apprentice?" he said airily, relaxing his stance. "What will your Jedi friend say?"

They both paused as a wave poured through the Force, warm, mild, tentative. It was followed by something much less refined, hot like a sun, then chilled like the void.

Ahsoka knew that presence anywhere.


	12. Lair

"I told him to come alone," Maul snarled.

Ahsoka wasn't much happier than Maul about this development. She'd intentionally avoided dragging Anakin into her troubles, intentionally kept her Master out of the loop, at bay, where he couldn't see into her life and worry about her troubles. Ahsoka knew Obi Wan would come if she'd asked, or if it looked as if she needed aid, but Anakin was the one sailing through space to rescue her at a moment's notice.

She didn't need rescuing. She needed her lightsaber.

Maul withdrew his saber and latched it onto his belt, crossed his arms and snorted. "I told him you would suffer if he didn't come alone."

"My Master probably caught wind of that," Ahsoka said. Her former master. "He might kill you."

"Is that the way of the Jedi?" Maul replied with a snort.

Maybe it wasn't. Ahsoka had seen how Anakin was when his friends were in danger, when Padme was in danger, when Obi Wan had seemingly died, killed by a run-off bounty hunter. She remembered Anakin holding Hardeen by his neck, how chilled his presence was in the Force.

She should have stopped him then, but she hadn't. She'd let him sink to such a low.

"Two Jedi, a…part-timer…and me. This will attract the Sith. You know this."

"So?" Ahsoka said.

"This operation cannot stand," Maul said. Like he'd done this before. He turned to the door and Ahsoka tailed him. She wasn't just going to let him wander off to his death with her lightsaber crystal in his pocket. He didn't stop her, instead leaping down from the rafters and finding the sentry at the front gate.

He ignited his lightsaber and slashed in in a diagonal motion, decapitating the man.

Ahsoka leapt down too late to stop him. "What are you doing?"

"Eliminating any witnesses. There's only four more. The rest I sent away after our excursion in case we roused our enemies."

Ahsoka wasn't about to let him kill the mercenaries, even if she didn't care for any of them. She should have grabbed a staff off of the wall – it wouldn't do much against a lightsaber, against Pre Vizla's sword, but she could at least cause some hurt, slow him down until Anakin arrived. Until Obi Wan arrived, but whereas Anakin felt close, almost like he was already standing beside her, offering her Padawan braid, Obi Wan felt distant. And slow.

"When our enemies arrive—both of our enemies, not just your friends—they will torture every man tied to us. The Sith do not take kindly to rivals."

"I'm not going to let you do this," Ahsoka said.

"You're awfully bold today, Lady Tano." Maybe before Maul would have laughed at her, but today he bared his teeth and snarled like a rabid kathound. He stormed past her angrily, but he'd forgotten something.

The guard's pistol was still holstered on his belt.

Ahsoka rushed to the guard's headless body and snatched the weapon before directing it at Maul's back. It wasn't a fair fight. It wouldn't be a fair fight until Ahsoka had her lightsabers, both of them.

She fired a warning shot at his heel and aimed the next one at his head. He stood very still, seething.

"You'll have to fight me first," she said.

Maul snarled and tried to rip the pistol out of her hand with the Force, but she had anticipated that. She held it tightly in both hands and pushed back, digging her heels in even as he dragged her across the floor. Then she fired.

The bolt grazed Maul's hand but he relented in his Force pull, instead opting to throw objects instead. Morbidly, he reached for the severed head behind Ahsoka. She spun and kicked it out of the way before firing another round at Maul. He ran behind a set of crates and tried to flank her, but when he moved to attack it was not with his saber but with a kick.

He was still trying to keep her alive, at least. He wouldn't try anything lethal.

Ahsoka could hold him off. She had to hold him off.


	13. Lair II

The streets of Nar Shadda were bustling as always. Anakin and Obi Wan had been to similar places, the underbelly of Coruscant came to mind. Nal Hutta. But they weren't here to comb for information. This was a rescue mission. A rescue mission very much unsanctioned by the council. Obi Wan had meant to come alone but Anakin had caught wind and tagged along in his own ship. He'd do anything for Ahsoka.

"Yeah, well, almost anything," he'd said, not bothering to mask his guilt.

They could feel hundreds of scuffles through the Force but one stood out through all the rest, brimming with desperation, hatred, guilt. A little hope shining through.

It had to be Ahsoka.

Their lightsabers, and one white-hilted shoto, bounced on their hips as they ran. They cut through alleys and cut through worksites. Anakin eyed an unattended speeder too excitedly and Obi Wan shot him a warning glare. "Crash your own speeder, Anakin."

"Who said anything about crashing?" Anakin replied unconvincingly.

At last they reached a warehouse where a headless body, the head alarmingly absent, guarded the gate. They stepped over the prone form and drew their sabers.

They couldn't see anything, but they could hear the hum of a saber and the charging of a blaster.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin yelled. "Where are you?"

"Anakin, quiet," Obi Wan urged.

A harsh, breathless laugh echoed from the rafters.


	14. Lair III

Maul's luck was turning fast. He'd chosen long ago not to rely on odds, sure that they were against him, but when Ahsoka first arrived he felt his luck changing. It had to be the Force. But it was a trick, as every good thing in his life had been. He would take it in, use it to make himself stronger, but if he was to reclaim his apprentice he needed to contend with two Jedi Masters, and the girl herself.

Worse, he knew Sidious would send his dogs after him.

That was, at a minimum, four to contend with. Maul could handle an unfair fight, but this was just the product of the universe conspiring against him.

He laughed harshly, glaring at the orange-skinned Togruta as she hesitated, glancing back to her master. He reached out with the Force again and ripped the pistol from her hand.

She swore as it flew out of her grasp and into Maul's, but now the Jedi knew where he was. He trained the pistol on Ahsoka. He didn't want to shoot her. He wanted his apprentice. He wanted his apprentice alive and not brain dead or crippled.

"Are you OK?" the younger of the two Jedi yelled.

"I'm fine, Master," Ahsoka said. Her voice was light, confident. Maul snarled.

Obi Wan paced out into the open, finally aware of Maul's location. Did he want for revenge? Justice as the weak-minded called it?

"Kenobi," he hissed, his pistol still trained on Ahsoka. "Lay down your weapons or I'll shoot her."

"You're in no position to make threats," Obi Wan replied harshly.

Anger. Somewhere, deep below, anger. Maul may not have corrupted him, but he was cracking.

The younger Jedi, Maul realized, carried more than one lightsaber on his belt. One gray-hilted blue saber, another with a short white handle. Ahsoka's hand extended and Maul cocked his pistol.

"Don't," he snapped.

Ahsoka rolled as she pulled the saber off of Anakin's belt, a yellow-green shoto which she used to deflect the blaster bolt right back at Maul. He leapt off the rafters to evade it, landing harshly on a stack of crates.

"It's over, Maul," Ahsoka said, emboldened by her Jedi friends. She held the saber in a Shien grip, behind her with one hand out in front. A formality, like she was waiting for another weapon to leap into her hand.

If he surrendered, he would die. If he fought, he would die. If he ran, he would die. If he delayed them, Dooku or Grievous or Force forbid Sidious himself would arrive. And then he would die.

"I'll take him," Anakin said. "You and Ahsoka get back to the ship."

"Which one?" Obi Wan replied.

Two ships. Obi Wan did come alone, the other Jedi simply followed.

"Three failed Jedi," Maul snarled. "I should be so lucky."


	15. Master

Ahsoka stood at the forefront of the trio, ready to finally bat Maul down for good. Anakin wanted to do it, she could feel his heart racing, but it was Ahsoka's lightsaber crystal rattling around Maul's pocket. She wasn't about to let it go so easily. She held her stance even as Obi Wan reached for her arm, shooting him a warning glare. He withdrew his hand and placed it on his own lightsaber, waiting. Was the plan to have Anakin delay Maul so they could escape?

She wanted that crystal back.

"I'm staying, Anakin," Ahsoka said quietly. "I have a score to settle."

"Get back to the ship, Snips," Anakin growled, glaring at Maul.

"With all due respect, Sky-guy," Ahsoka said, holding her stance, "You are no longer my master."

She could sense Maul's fear, tucked deep below where Anakin and Obi Wan would never see it. It was proximity that allowed Ahsoka to feel the slightest change in his demeanor – a few months sleeping just a few yards away from even the most callous monster would do that to a Force user.

She already knew he was afraid of more Sith coming to smack down another would-be rival.

For a moment, Ahsoka saw Ventress sitting on those crates, sweat beading on her shaven head. It was just like the Sith to throw away their apprentices.

Before Anakin could take the offensive, Ahsoka did. She leapt up from under the crates and slashed at the base where Maul stood. He flipped off of the pile and gripped the broken debris in a web of the Force, and flung them at the Jedi behind him. The knight and the master dived out of the way and recovered their stances. Maul went at Ahsoka, as promised, and locked blades with her. The other Jedi paced around them, their lightsabers drawn. Ready to flank him.

"I want my crystal back," Ahsoka hissed, barely heard over the hiss of their locked sabers.

"Then take it," Maul roared. He pushed Ahsoka off and slashed down at her with the saber. Ahsoka spun beneath him and kicked at his middle back, where his waist melded with his bionics. He reeled but turned in time to block another attack. Ahsoka shouldn't have tried a Shien grip for this. He was stronger than her, and she could feel her blade turning towards herself.

She retreated a step and rolled past him again, slashing at his legs. He drove his lightsaber downwards to block and kicked at her head. She fell backwards to evade him, and flipped off the ground, kicking him off his chest to accelerate. He recoiled a step or two, and Ahsoka was ensnared by the reality of her situation.

Even with a real lightsaber it wasn't a fair fight.

But if there was anything Ahsoka excelled at, it was going toe-to-toe with older, more experienced, physically stronger opponents.

She saw Anakin's fists tensing around his lightsaber and she shook her head. "Stay back, Anakin," she grunted.

"We're wasting time," Maul growled, slashing the crates beside him. "Do you know who is coming?"

She caught the way Obi Wan's brow furrowed. She could feel something, but she'd assumed it was Anakin. Or worse, herself.

Ahsoka turned her blade into a traditional grip. Basics. She wanted her second lightsaber.

"I'm not done yet," Ahsoka snapped. She made an underhanded slash at Maul, he evaded and spun into a counter. Ahsoka rolled inward and kicked upwards at his jaw. He moved his head at the last second and she heard his lightsaber withdraw.

"Ahsoka, please," Obi Wan barked, "Maul is right. Staying any longer is foolish."

They all paused for a moment. Ahsoka still held her stance but Maul had already sheathed his saber. He glared at Obi Wan, and she felt as if she was standing in a blast chiller. He breathed like a hungry beast in a cage. He wanted to rip out Obi Wan's throat. But he said, "Kenobi feels it too. How charming."

Obi Wan glanced to Anakin. They nodded, and put away their lightsabers. And finally, Ahsoka did as well. She clasped it on her hip. She had missed the weight.

Maul turned his chin high and bared teeth, and paced forward, almost past Ahsoka. She glared at him, held out a hand. "My crystal."

"Another time," he grunted. And then he glanced back, one last time, teeth bared like a beast. Then he ran.

Ahsoka followed closely behind Maul, and Anakin stayed at her side. Obi Wan stayed just a bit behind them. They moved at a brisk pace, though Maul clattered like a battle droid on a good day and sounded more like a tank as it stood.

"Ahsoka, if you don't mind riding with me," Obi Wan said as they reached the landing bay.

Maul snarled, "Not if you want your crystal back."

"Ship's out of fuel, sleemo," Ahsoka replied. "You won't make if off planet in that. Ride with Skyguy."

That left two ships. Obi Wan's cruiser or Anakin's fighter. And then Anakin chimed in, "My ship actually…well the fuel line's shot so I can't really, you know, fly it."

And by shot he probably meant on fire. While Obi Wan turned to reprimand Anakin for taking poor care of his ships, Ahsoka shook her head and moved toward the dock. Maul stalked behind her while her former master and his former master bickered. The ship was left open, which didn't bode well on Nar Shadda. She wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of scavengers making off with all of their rations and supplies.

She walked inside, one hand ready to catch her lightsaber. Maul followed her in.

"Must be frustrating, Stripy," Ahsoka said with a smirk.

"I'm sure you're familiar with that feeling," he retorted, paused, then added, "Snips."

Ahsoka's smile curdled into a scowl.

Obi Wan and Anakin followed just behind, still arguing about the best way to maintain a ventilation system. Anakin insisted he could do it himself and Obi Wan replied, "Just use a mechanic, Anakin, you don't have the time for all these scrap heaps you pick up."

"Oh, I don't have the time but you have time for secret, unsanctioned rescue missions without telling your partner."

"Yes, because I don't pick up dozens of wrecked ships."

Anakin habitually moved to sit in the pilot's chair. Obi Wan quickly corrected him with a hand over the arm and seat and another arm over the steering as if Anakin could take off without sitting down and strapping in. "I'll be flying my own ship, thank you."

There were some side seats, which Maul immediately took for his own. Ahsoka sat in the copilot's chair, which left Anakin to sit by her would-be master. She shrugged.

"You owe me," he said.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Ahsoka replied, strapping into the flight harness.


	16. Fighter

The takeoff was made without words. The engine was so loud Ahsoka couldn't hear herself think, Anakin was sitting in silent protest of not beheading Maul the instant he stepped onto the ship. Obi Wan and Anakin didn't seem as bothered by the noise. Neither did Maul. But Ahsoka had sensitive hearing, a common trait among her people. She kept her eyes closed and tried to hone in on the nearer sounds, Obi Wan's measured breathing, Anakin's tapping foot.

She missed those sounds.

Once they made it out of the atmosphere, Anakin and Maul unclasped themselves from their flight harnesses. Ahsoka did the same but Obi Wan stayed strapped in, brow furrowed.

"Ahsoka, would you kindly watch the radar?"

Ahsoka kept an eye on the targeting computer as she stretched and rolled her neck. She heard Maul cracking his neck behind her and spun around, one hand ready to catch her lightsaber.

"You stay over there," she warned.

"It would be prudent to let all of your passengers know if we're about to be boarded," Maul rasped. "Unless you believe the three of you can fight off every droid on Dooku's ship."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and glanced to Obi Wan behind her. He stared hard ahead.

"It's not really, Dooku, is it Master?" Ahsoka whispered, eyeing the blips on the radar. A large one drew closer. They weren't in firing range, not yet, but they would be soon.

"Let me drive," Anakin said. "I can get him off us."

"There aren't any planets I fancy crashing on nearby," Obi Wan replied. He regarded Ahsoka without turning his head. "I'm afraid it must be, Ahsoka."

"In that case," Ahsoka said, placing a hand on the back of Obi Wan's seat. "I'm driving. Move over."

Ahsoka could do a little better than manage a cruiser, and her last missions with the Order had entailed dodging separatists, pirates, and Grievous, the head tinny. She'd been in dozens of space battles before that. She knew what she was doing. Obi Wan glanced between Anakin, Maul, and Ahsoka and finally threw up a hand and unbuckled his harness.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Anakin said.

"We landed with two ships," Obi Wan reminded him, switching to the copilot's chair. He strapped in.

Ahsoka cracked her knuckles. Then, with one last glance at the radar, she made her plans. "Get ready."

"What's the plan, Snips?" Anakin said.

"I need a turret. Where's R2?"

"That's classified, I'm afraid," Obi Wan replied. That was wonderful. It meant they'd sent the droid off on a mission again. "Anakin?"

"I know, I know," he muttered. He trotted off to the gunner's mount and left the rest of them to sit literally on the edge of their seats. Obi Wan was unflappably calm, but Maul still seethed. Maybe he was hoping they'd all crash and burn so he could make off with Ahsoka, beheading Obi Wan as they fled the wreckage.

From the comlink, Anakin's voice blared, "Ready when you are, Snips."

"I hate it when you call me that," she muttered. Part of her missed it, but she hated the part of her that missed it. "Alright. This is gonna be rough."

She killed the thrusters and waited.

Obi Wan's breathing hitched. That was why Ahsoka wanted to drive. She knew Obi Wan wouldn't like this.

They stayed dead in space, and Ahsoka shut her eyes, listening to the blip of the radar, the labored breathing, the snarl from the passengers' side. She didn't give a damn what Maul thought. Not unless he had a better plan.

The radar reached a crescendo and the blips came more rapidly, higher and higher like a terrified heartbeat. She felt her own in her throat, felt Anakin's in his, felt Obi Wan's sailing out of his body. "Don't worry, Master, I've got it all under control."

She opened her eyes and rebooted the thrusters, full power. From the cockpit she could hear how they choked and sputtered and chortled as the fuel combusted all at once. Zero to a hundred.

Dooku's frigate appeared just above them but Ahsoka had angled the thrusters upwards. The turret mount on the bottom of the ship wouldn't be of much use until they flipped.

"Get ready, Anakin," she warned. Her old master coughed his assent.

Ahsoka grabbed the steering and twisted, full body, like she was trying to flip right out of her flight harness. The ship lurched. Obi Wan swayed in his seat. Maul's horns dug holes into the seat's padding. He bit his tongue and spat blood on the floor.

Ahsoka held the rapid spiral and Anakin dutifully fired as he turned around, his blasts bouncing off the deflector shields. But that was the point. Building thrust, achieving a faster turn. Ahsoka clenched her jaw and kept turning.

They were gaining distance and moving in a direction the much larger Frigate couldn't turn to. Not that quickly. They weren't aiming the guns which meant they had to know it was Obi Wan's ship, had to want to catch them in a tractor beam. As long as they kept spiraling, that would be difficult.

"You're making friends all over, aren't you?" she said.

"Not without help," Obi Wan ground out, knuckles popping as he gripped the arms of his chair.

Ahsoka kept spinning, kept putting more power into the thrusters, and Anakin kept firing at the shields. Then, finally, "Anakin I'm cutting the gun!"

"Do it!" he yelled.

She cut the power supply from the gun started a bypass. Everything not needed for motion or life support went off. Lights. Gravity. Containment cell. Freezer. All power diverted where she needed it most.

Ahsoka let the ship drift forward unabashed. She started to arrange the hyperdrive, punched in the coordinates for the first planet she could think of. Dantooine. She let the computer calculate the route.

Something struck the ship from her blind side and the power surged. Only the life support remained as they drifted through space.

"What was that?" Ahsoka gasped. She tried to finish the coordinates but the computer wouldn't respond. The calculations were halted.

She couldn't see out the window, but Maul cracked open a glinting yellow eye and muttered, blood dripping from his split lip, "An ion blast, perhaps."

Ahsoka kept her hands on the steering, thinking she might be able to turn it back on, might be able to get them moving again—

"It's useless," Maul continued. "Our energy is best spent preparing to be boarded. Or collected, as the case may be."

"Shut up," Ahsoka snapped.

She couldn't help but think of all the men she'd lost in her early days, couldn't stop thinking of the Clones and their tattooed faces, smiling, laughing, shipping off for battle under her command only to fall dead. Under her command.

"Ahsoka, it's alright. We'll…improvise," he said.

Ahsoka nodded. She flipped on the com, pleased to see it still worked, and repeated, "Anakin. We're improvising now."

"My specialty," he replied. She could hear the grin in his voice. She wished he would sound less cheerful, less like her Master and more like some stodgy old Jedi. But this wasn't the time to bring it up, and it wasn't the place. No place where Maul could hear would be.

She switched the gravity back on as the tractor beam caught them. And then she undid her flight harness and prepared for a fight.


	17. Frigate

Every soldier had their own way of preparing for a battle. Ahsoka remembered the clones telling her this, showing her how they cleaned their weapons, painted their faces, told war stories, stretched, fasted, gorged themselves, sat in silence, fought each other, exercised, slept, or whatever else they did to occupy their minds and bodies until the fight began.

Obi Wan and Anakin sat and meditated together. Maul paced like a caged beast.

Ahsoka used to make rounds with the clones, but there weren't any. So instead, she tried to meditate. Couldn't sit still. She stood up and tried to stretch, but Maul's pacing kept grating on her nerves. She spun around. "My crystal."

"Later," he grunted.

"Now," she said. "If we get separated, I'm not losing it because of you."

"If we get separated, you'll lose a lot more than the crystal," he growled. But he reached into his sash and pulled out the little glowing thing, tossing it haphazardly to Ahsoka. She caught it, palmed it, and tucked it safely away in her breast pocket. Close to her, where it belonged.

"Thank you," she said slowly. She hadn't expected that to actually work.

She started to scour the ship for anything they could use to ward off whoever boarded the ship first. The bucketheaded droids were easy. Assassin droids would be a challenge. Dooku wasn't the type to play fair. She started thinking of exit strategies, how they could turn being cornered into an advantage. She eyed the ventilation shaft. She could fit up there.

"Master Skywalker," Ahsoka said. Anakin leapt up from his meditation so quickly Ahsoka wasn't sure he was meditating at all. "I'm going to climb up there, see if I can't catch the tinnies by surprise."

Anakin grinned. He pulled a deactivator out of his robes and handed it to Ahsoka. "Cover me, will you?"

Like old times. But Ahsoka didn't say that. She nodded. She reached out through the Force and felt the ventilation hatch unlocking, moving out of place. She leapt in and closed it behind her, crawling through the vent and lying in wait.

She sensed a foreign presence, could hear the metal clanking on metal. She shut her eyes as she crawled ahead and tried to visualize. Twenty-four tinnies for four Force wielders. Five assault droids. Five elites. And one presence, one she couldn't quite place, snapped her focus.

Ahsoka knew the Dark Side too well by now. Dooku, maybe, or more likely another lackey like Asajj.

The entrance hissed as it opened. Ahsoka took her place by the ventilation shaft and peered down.

An old man, white-haired with a long white beard in a jet black cloak paced onto the ramp. Dooku actually led the charge. He had to be arrogant to believe he could take down all four of them. Ahsoka aimed her deactivator. She had to be ready to shoot, and run, and keep shooting.

She pulled open the grate as silently as she could manage. Dooku didn't turn, but his stride slowed for just a second.

He had to know she was there.

Ahsoka fired three times and rolled out of the hatch, drawing her lightsaber in a fluid motion and taking a sturdy stance. She held it in her shienn grip, her blaster substituting for her main weapon.

"I am surprised to see you have survived this long," the old man muttered in a gravelly voice.

Anakin charged out of the cockpit, lightsaber blazing and hissing as he brought it down on Dooku's. Ahsoka fired another shot. Dooku spun out of the way and the shot struck Anakin in the left shoulder.

Shit.

Luckily Anakin was made of sturdy stuff and recovered quickly enough to charge Dooku again, but the old man dodged and blocked and lashed out fluidly. Like a Jedi Master.

Obi Wan came next, rolling down the hatch and whirling around, slicing at Dooku's legs. The old man leapt into the air to dodge, blasting Anakin with conjured lightning. Anakin recoiled. Ahsoka moved to fire her blaster again—

Dooku ripped it from her hand and swatted it aside. This was too familiar. Ahsoka resumed her stance and joined the fray. He couldn't possibly hold all three of them off.

Ahsoka stuck to hit-and-run tactics while Anakin tried to breach Dooku's defenses. Obi Wan searched for an opening. The old man evaded or dodged Ahsoka and tauntingly deflected Anakin's attacks. His fingertips glowered lightning. When Ahsoka hesitated too long, he zapped her as well.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin screamed, slashing at Dooku's arm. The man withdrew quickly and suddenly kicked Anakin in the gut. Obi Wan closed in with a quick stab but Dooku reached out with the Force and reeled Ahsoka in.

It occurred to Ahsoka, as Obi Wan's saber drove through her shoulder, that she had completely lost track of Maul.


End file.
